He should leave. Go to his quarters, close the door, pretend he didn’t know she was running herself into the ground over network diagnostics and security protocols. Her work habits weren’t his concern. Her health wasn’t his responsibility.
His wolf disagreed violently.
He pushed open the door.
She sat hunched over her laptop, pink hair escaping from its ponytail in disheveled strands, the glow of her screen casting harsh shadows under her eyes. She’d abandoned her glasses at some point—they lay forgotten beside a half-empty coffee mug that had likely gone cold hours ago—and her face bore the pinched expression of someone staring at a problem that refused to yield.
She didn’t look up at his entrance. Her fingers continued their assault on the keyboard, her brow furrowed in concentration.
“Harper.”
Nothing. Not even a twitch of acknowledgment.
“Harper.”
“Give me a minute.” Her voice was hoarse. “I almost have this security vulnerability mapped, and if I stop now I’ll lose the thread?—”
“You will stop now.”
That got her attention. Her head snapped up, grey eyes blazing with immediate defiance despite the exhaustion dragging at her features. “Excuse me?”
He moved into the room, letting the door swing shut behind him. The office felt smaller at night, more intimate, the darkness pressing against the windows like something hungry. Her scent filled the space completely—no competing smells, no distracting pack members, just her wrapping around his senses until his wolf paced restlessly beneath his skin.
“It’s past midnight. You’ve been working for—” He paused, calculating. She’d been at her desk when he left for evening patrol, and that had been before dinner. “—at least eight hours without a proper break. You need rest.”
“I need to finish this vulnerability assessment.” She turned back to her screen, dismissing him with a gesture that would have earned any pack member a sharp reprimand. “The attempted breaches I identified are getting more sophisticated. Someone is actively probing your defenses, and I need to figure out where they’re targeting before they find a way through.”
“That can wait until morning.”
“No, it really can’t.”
“Harper—”
“Adrian.” She threw his name back at him like a challenge, still not looking away from her work. “I appreciate the concern, but I’ve been doing this for years. I know my limits.”
“Do you?” He moved closer, and she tensed—not with fear, but with that electric awareness that seemed to spark between them whenever he invaded her space. “Your hands are shaking.Your heart rate is elevated. You’re running on caffeine and stubbornness, and both are about to fail you.”
“How do you—” She stopped and sighed, undoubtedly remembering his enhanced senses. “That’s a creepy superpower, by the way.”
“Look at me, kitten.”
The words came out low and rough, threaded with the dominance that his wolf was pushing to the surface. A command wrapped in velvet, the kind that made lesser wolves drop their gaze and bare their throats.
Her chin lifted.
Look at me,he’d said, and she did—directly, unflinchingly, her eyes meeting his with a defiance that sent heat crackling down his spine. No submission. No deference. Just stubborn, brilliant, infuriating resistance.
His wolf surged forward, pressing against his control.
“You should be resting.” His voice came out more growl than words. “Your body requires sleep. I can hear how exhausted you are.”
“My body will rest when my brain lets it.” Her jaw set. “And my brain won’t let it until I’ve figured out who’s trying to hack your network.”
“That’s not your decision.”
“Actually, it is. My body, my schedule, my choice.”
“You’re in my territory.” He stepped closer, and god help him, her scent intensified with proximity—that maddening sweetness mixing with something temptingly defiant, something that madehis wolf want to pin her down and prove just how thoroughly she was wrong about who had control here. “Under my protection. Your wellbeing is my responsibility.”
